A prominent Minnesota Democrat who served in the state's House of Representatives revealed on Thursday he believes the federal probe into Rep.Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., has legitimacy.It's the latest signal that the political dam may be breaking as scandals and investigations into the congresswoman continue to pile up."Democrats should understand that the allegation is almost certainly true—whatever conclusion they draw from that point could vary—and her denials calling it a right-wing, Islamophobic or racist conspiracy are almost certainly not," Joe Radinovich posted on X in reference to the claims that Omar married her brother as part of an alleged fraudulent immigration scheme.Radinovich, who served as a Minnesota state representative from 2013 to 2015 as a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), added to his post that, in addition to the probe into her immigration status, the investigation into her finances could also be problematic.OBAMA ADMIN FIRST LAUNCHED THE INVESTIGATION INTO ILHAN OMAR'S ALLEGED BROTHER MARRIAGERep.
Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., speaks at a news conference ahead of the State of the Union address at the U.S.Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Feb.
24, 2026.(Daniel Heuer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)"And then I’d be very, very careful about how I qualified on allegations around her finances—where her defense looks similar and where no meaningful questions have been answered publicly, and where any objective look at the evidence doesn’t look…great," the former state representative said.Radinovich, a well-connected DFL operative with ties to the party’s state, federal and Minneapolis political establishments, managed Democrat Rick Nolan’s 2016 congressional campaign, ran Jacob Frey’s successful 2017 campaign for Minneapolis mayor and later served as Frey’s chief of staff.
He also won the DFL nomination for Minnesota’s 8th Congressional District in 2018 before losing to Republican Pete Stauber.Briana Rose ...